Pennies falling: collaborative rewards in a state of creative emergency

ABSTRACT In theatre, hierarchies that delineate role and function often obscure the collaborative work of conceptualising a performance. Similarly, group processes may mask hidden creative hierarchies by labelling themselves ‘collaborative’. Either way, it is widely held that it’s difficult to make things in groups. Third Year BFA (Drama) students at the Queensland University Technology engage with creative development in building new performances to proof of concept stage. ‘Then the penny dropped’ is a colloquial English expression capturing the moment of realisation after a period of uncertainty. This is an investigation of learning experiences in which the penny is still falling. This article surveys 3 years of this program in action, comprising 23 separate creative projects and groups. It describes the distinct characteristics of this learning environment, while developing a taxonomy of the student works, windows into processes that realised them and strategies for realising the learning opportunities offered by collaborative creativity.